This is a press release, not a commercial solicitation.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 29, 1999
RTMARK, a clearinghouse for anti-corporate activism, announces its spring
series of strategic initiatives directed against corporations and the
carefully-constructed corporate image. The series kicks off with the following
projects (see below for full releases):
* "Extracted Celluloid," the "Deconstructing Beck" sequel and film music
* rip-off;
* the second annual USA Phone In Sick Day; and
* a "new pieing" event in Vancouver, Canada.
The series will also feature four more projects, including a system for the
theft and redistribution of commercialized video art
(http://rtmark.com/2995.html). In addition, RTMARK is unveiling a new section,
"Hats Off to Clarity" (http://rtmark.com/hatsoff.html), which currently boasts
Diesel's "sawing nude women to bits" ad campaign. (That campaign caused an
uproar in Europe but is unknown so far in the U.S., a situation RTMARK hopes to
remedy.)
The redesign of http://rtmark.com/, another quarterly capstone, features a new
project communication system, as well as "appropriations" of corporate websites
(http://rtmark.com/shell.html, http://rtmark.com/mcdonalds.html) as described
at
http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/03/cyber/artsatlarge/18artsatlarge.html.
Andrei Codrescu, RTMARK Media Fund manager and NPR Commentator, says of these
initiatives: "RTMARK continues to gain territory in the ongoing battle between
faceless corporations and what used to be known as human beings, now in the
process of becoming corporate appendages." (http://rtmark.com/fundmedia.html)
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"EXTRACTED CELLULOID": FILM MUSIC RIP-OFF BUILDS ON "DECONSTRUCTING BECK" SUCCESS
Groups aim to further dialogue on corporate abuses of law
Contacts: RTMARK (mailto:events {AT} rtmark.com; http://rtmark.com/ppdb.html)
Illegal Art (mailto:illegalart {AT} detritus.net;
http://www.detritus.net/illegalart/)
"Extracted Celluloid" is a collection of brilliant but illegal resamplings of
film music, produced by Illegal Art with the support of RTMARK, which gathered
$3,500 from anonymous donors to help with production costs. Illegal Art
describes the CD as an effort to "present commentary and ideas that stand in
direct opposition to the media and sonic cliches from which they were derived."
Last year, RTMARK channeled $5,000 to Illegal Art for its enormously popular
"Deconstructing Beck," a compilation that illegally sampled the music of
recording artist Beck (see http://rtmark.com/pressdb.html for press fallout).
"'Extracted Celluloid,'" RTMARK spokesperson Ray Thomas said, "is an even
better investment for RTMARK donors. While Beck is arguably a terrific artist,
most of the film music that 'Extracted Celluloid' samples is much more a
product of the corporate bottom line. By taking this commercial dross and
making something great of it, Illegal Art is making a very strong statement
about taking control of our lives back from corporations."
Illegal Art's pseudonymous spokesperson, Philo T. Farnsworth, hopes the CD
helps make a point about copyright: "Copyright law was designed to protect
artists' rights, but it has been perverted to the point where today it only
protects corporate earnings."
As with "Deconstructing Beck," Negativland and their Seeland label
(http://www.negativland.com/nmol/seeland.html#extracted) are co-releasing this
project with Illegal Art. The official release date of "Extracted Celluloid" is
April 9; until then it can be previewed at
http://www.detritus.net/illegalart/preview.html. Among the soundtracks sampled
on the CD are those of the movies Titanic, Saturday Night Fever, The Wizard Of
Oz, Cheech and Chong, and Dr. Strangelove.
----------------------------------------------
RTMARK SPONSORS USA PHONE IN SICK DAY, APRIL 6
Last year's event was wildly successful
Contacts: RTMARK (mailto:events {AT} rtmark.com;
http://rtmark.com/phoneinsick.html)
Decadent Action (mailto:decadent {AT} underbelly.demon.co.uk;
http://www.underbelly.demon.co.uk/decadent/docs/sickcont.htm)
For the second year in a row, the British are coming--not to impose their tea
but to wean us from it. Last year's RTMARK-funded event was credited with
causing the "sickout" of 80% of the Irish police force, as well as some prison
guards; the previous year's event, its first, was blamed for 2000 British
Airways employees phoning in sick.
This year's call to laziness, which occurs near the thirtieth anniversary of
John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Bed Peace" action, has already received attention
on French and Canadian television, British and Australian radio, and in
European newspapers and magazines. RTMARK wishes to bring to the event U.S.
attention as well.
Phone In Sick Day was begun in Britain by "consumer terrorists" Decadent
Action. The avowed purpose of Decadent Action is "to destroy the monetary
system... at their leisure," via a campaign of luxury living funded by
shoplifting and credit. A Decadent Action spokesperson said that in addition,
phoning in sick is fast becoming "a genuine alternative to the organized
strike."
NPR commentator Andrei Codrescu, who phoned in sick on the air for last year's
event, said that phoning in sick "is a terrific thing to do if you feel well.
You should phone in and say, 'I feel very well, so i will not murder my time by
participating in your rituals.' I think if enough people did that, the
machinery would falter." RTMARK and Decadent Action are calling on workers to
phone in sick on April 6 for any reason at all--in protest, in commemoration of
murdered time, or simply in the interests of personal pleasure.
--------------------------------------------------
BUSINESSMAN INVITES OTHERS TO DIVE FOR HIS DOLLARS
Vancouver group have some very smelly plans for their city
Contacts: RTMARK (mailto:events {AT} rtmark.com; http://rtmark.com/fundmagx.html)
Event organizers (mailto:vat {AT} rtmark.com)
In an unpleasant variation on the now-familiar pieings of unsavory public
figures, a Vancouver group will use several thousand dollars in
RTMARK-solicited funding to stage a famous scene from Terry Southern's The
Magic Christian. By advertising free money obtainable only by diving into a vat
of human offal, the group aims to make a statement on "the real roots of
corporate power."
The source of the funding, who heard of the project on RTMARK's Magic Christian
Fund bulletin board (http://rtmark.com/fundmagx.html), wishes to be identified
only as a Canadian businessman. "Blood may be thicker than water, but manure is
definitely funnier," he said.
The event is scheduled for Good Friday, April 2nd. It will take place in a
public park, where members of the Vancouver Board of Trade will be holding a
department picnic, according to the organizers, who may be contacted via
mailto:vat {AT} rtmark.com.
-----------
Special note:
RTMARK wishes to call attention to the Help B92 campaign, at
http://helpb92.xs4all.nl, dedicated to keeping Yugoslavia's sole source of
independent radio information operational. Please help in any way you
can--financially or with publicity--at this crucial moment in the region's
history.
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